Ukraine targets Moscow in biggest drone attack yet
Ukraine targeted the Russian capital on Tuesday in its biggest drone attack so far, killing at least one and wrecking dozens of homes in the Moscow region and forcing around 50 flights to be diverted from airports around Moscow.
Russia, the world's biggest nuclear power, said it had destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones as they swarmed over the Moscow region, which has a population of more than 21 million, and 124 more over eight other regions.
At least one person was killed near Moscow, Russian authorities said. Three of Moscow's four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the drone attack was another reminder of the real nature of Ukraine's political leadership, which he said was made up of Russia's enemies.
"There is no way that night time strikes on residential neighbourhoods can be associated with military action," said Peskov.
"The Kyiv regime continues to demonstrate its nature. They are our enemies and we must continue the special military operation to protect ourselves from such actions," he said, using the expression Moscow uses to describe its war in Ukraine.
Kyiv said Russia, which sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, had attacked it overnight with 46 drones, of which 38 were destroyed.
The drone attacks on Russia damaged at high-rise apartment buildings in the Ramenskoye district of the Moscow region, setting flats on fire, residents told Reuters.
A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were wounded in Ramenskoye, Moscow regional governor Andrei Vorobyov said.
Residents said they awoke to blasts and fire.
"I looked at the window and saw a ball of fire," Alexander Li, a resident of the district told Reuters. "The window got blown out by the shockwave."
Georgy, a resident who declined to give his surname, said he heard a drone buzzing outside his building in the early hours.
"I
drew back the curtain and it hit the building right before my eyes, I saw it
all," he said. "I took my family and we ran outside."
The Ramenskoye
district, some 50 km (31 miles) southeast of the Kremlin, has a population of
around a quarter of a million people, according to official data.
More than 70
drones were also downed over Russia's Bryansk region and tens more over other
regions, Russia's defence ministry said. There was no damage or casualties
reported there.
As Russia
advances in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv has taken the war to Russia with a
cross-border attack into Russia's western Kursk region that began on Aug. 6 and
by carrying out increasingly large drone attacks deep into Russian territory.
The war has
largely been a grinding artillery and drone war along the 1,000 km heavily fortified front line in southern and eastern Ukraine involving hundreds
of thousands of soldiers.
Moscow and
Kyiv have both sought to buy and develop new drones, deploy them in innovative
ways, and seek new ways to destroy them - from using shotguns to advanced
electronic jamming systems.
Both sides
have turned cheap commercial drones into deadly weapons while ramping up their
own production and assembly to attack targets including tanks and energy
infrastructure such as refineries and airfields.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin, who has sought to insulate Moscow from the grinding
rigours of the war, has called Ukrainian drone attacks that target civilian
infrastructure such as nuclear power plants "terrorism" and has vowed
a response.
Moscow and
other big Russian cities have largely been insulated from the war.
Russia itself
has hit Ukraine with thousands of missiles and drones in the last
two-and-a-half years, killing thousands of civilians, wrecking much of the
country's energy system and damaging commercial and residential properties
across the country.
Ukraine says
it has a right to strike back deep into Russia, though Kyiv's Western backers
have said they do not want a direct confrontation between Russia and the
U.S.-led NATO military alliance.
There was no
immediate comment from Ukraine about Tuesday's attacks. Both sides deny
targeting civilians.
Tuesday's
attack follows drone attacks Ukraine launched in early September chiefly
targeting Russia's energy and power facilities.
Authorities in
the Tula region, which neighbours the Moscow region to its north, said drone
wreckage had fallen onto a fuel and energy facility but that the
"technological process" of the facility was not affected.
Want to send us a story? SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp 0743570000 or Submit on Citizen Digital or email wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a Comment